The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1887-05-14
SOME EARLY NEWSPAPERS.
History of the Times When News
papers Were Not Newspapers.

The first reliable account of news
paper was that of the Acia Diurna,
published by Julius Cesar. This an
cient gazette seemed to embody the
idea of modern newspapers. 1t con-
tanned notices of marriages, births
! deaths, the movements of the royal
! family, news from the wars in Gaul,
etc. This was continued until the
downfall of the western empire, or, as
others say, until the time of Augustus
1t was not published in Constantinople.
The word gazette was variously OF
Italian or Hebrew origin, and was de-
rived from two words gazzetta, the
Italian for chatterer, or isga, Hebrac
word for messenger. This is dis
tncive feature of the English language.
By the transpostion or looping off of a
letter, you can prove any word the
lineal descendant of another. The
first Gagzctta was published in Venice
in 1868. 1t has been suggested that
the name might have sprung from a
small coin which the bearer paid for
the purpose of hearing the news read.
1t was issued monthly.
The first English newspaper was sup
posed, until recently, to be the Mercury
published in 1888. when the Armada
mcnaced the shores of England. Lord
Burleigh was said to have been the ed.
itor, and that his purpose in issuing it
had been to quiet the fears of the En-
glish people. D'Israeli incorporated
il in one of his works. which reached
the eleventh edition before he discovered
that the papers were cleverly executed
forgeries of no later date than 1740.
The mantle of age, by this discovery,
then fell on the Certain NeWeS of tho
Present Week published in London in
1922.
The oldest English paper on file is
the Stamford NercwN which began
on July 6, 1895, and is still in existence.
There is an unauthenticated report
that newspaper was printed in Muir
emberg in 1867, or before America was
discovered There is, however, at
Heidelberg newspaper published
in 1909. To Germany and Nur-
emberg the world owes its first news.
paper type, thus fulfilling the saying
in regard to its industries;
ttNrror,hurois hand -
Goes through every land"
In the Heidelberg aper reference is
made to Calico of Provence, professor
at Padua.
The lectures dwelt at some length
on the claim of the Chinese to priority
in every discovery and the disposition
to ridicule them. But they could lay
claim to the oldest newspaper. the
Pekin Gazette. begun in oil A. ID. 1t
had three editions, two on yellow and
one on red paper. The first gave Off
cal news and the second commercial
and the third extracts from both. The
theory of the origin of the word "news"
from the initials or the four cardinal
points of the compass she demolished
by showing that in early editions il was
spelled ''newes." The compass surely
did not have five points. The theory
was. however. as old as 1910.
II was in 1913 that the death blow
was dealt in England to censorship of
the press. Millions famous speech to
the Parliament" his best prose work.
was the weapon that accomplished this,
and called forth in his praise the say
ing: Those who tight bravely are for
an age; those who write brave are for
all time" Speaking of editorial abuse,
she saw that in this profession as in
others the millennium had not arrived.
The lion and the lamb were here, but
the little child who was to lead them
had not come. As in the present day,
our ancestors fought with papers. and
a score Of them were started ia 1873
Then the opposing armies carried its
printers. who. like Wendell Phillips,
believed that lead was wasted in bull.
lets. when II could be used in type.
In those days an ed tor was not an
editor. He was the printer or publish
err. and he had hard time filling his
diminutive sheet OF four pages one
was left blank 'for We subscribers use.
and for We Improvement Of ye children
handwriting"
The French. when they were called
f.anls are inferred 10 in ..CRsar's Com